1. Technical Field
The invention relates in general to a patterned retarder film and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a patterned retarder film used in stereoscopic display systems and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, stereoscopic display systems with enhanced image quality have been drawing more attention to the industry and become more popular to customers. It is known that applying a patterned retarder film to a liquid crystal display screen, a stereo imaging can thus be provided for the audience wearing a pair of polarization glasses.
The patterned retarder film used in liquid crystal display comprises a plurality of left-handed circular polarization zones and a plurality of right-handed circular polarization zones that are alternately disposed along a vertical direction.
During operation, light corresponding to images that are associated with the left eye (hereinafter referred to as the left-eye images) is perceived by the left eye via the left-handed circular polarization zones and the left-handed circular polarizer of the polarization glasses, and light corresponding to images that are associated with the right eye (hereinafter referred to as the right-eye images) is perceived by the right eye via the right-handed circular polarization zones and the right-handed circular polarizer of the polarization glasses. Because the left-eye images cannot pass the right-handed circular polarization zones, the left-eye images will only be received by the left eye. Similarly, the right-eye images will only be received by the right eye. Each corresponding pair of left-eye and right-eye images may combine to form a stereoscopic image showing objects having depth or three dimensions.
The prior method for manufacturing patterned retarder film comprises forming grooved and relief-like structures on a surface of a film by a grooved roller. Then, liquid crystal is coated on the grooved structures. The predetermined phase retardation can be controlled by the depth of the grooved structures. The original linear polarized light with specific direction can be transfer to left-handed circular polarized light and right-handed circular polarized light by collocating appropriate ¼ wavelength plate which has the same direction of aligning.
However, when manufacturing patterned retarder film, liquid crystal molecules are often remained on the relief-like structures because of the adhesion of the liquid crystal molecules during coating treatment. After adhering the ¼ wavelength plate, the circular polarized light will become elliptically polarized light resulted from the phase retardation caused by the liquid crystal molecules remained on the relief-like structures. The elliptically polarized light cannot be filtered by the other circular polarizer of the polarization glasses, the crosstalk interference will occur and affect the display quality of the stereoscopic display.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a patterned retarder film that is capable for alleviating the disadvantage of the prior art.